1 preparation for practice constructing a framework for learning bob cecil senior lecturer...
TRANSCRIPT
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Preparation for Practice Constructing a Framework for
Learning
Bob Cecil Senior Lecturer Canterbury Christ Church University
Louise O’Connor Senior LecturerLondon South Bank University
January 2008
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Outline• Developments in social work education • Defining ‘Preparation for Practice’• Module overview • The evaluation & findings• Key themes• Unpacking the findings:implications for
Curriculum Planning • ‘PREPARES’: a framework for practice
learning • Final thoughts
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“I dunno,” Arthur said, “I forget what I was taught. I only remember what I’ve learnt.”
(P.White The Solid Mandala 1966)
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Developments in social work education
• Modernisation agenda- to improve status / confidence in social work
• Regulation - Codes of Practice Employers & Employees (General Social Care Council)
• New Training Framework – National Occupational Standards (Key Roles)
• SCIE: “Better knowledge for better practice”
to develop & sustain the social care knowledge base (evidence-based practice)
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Key themes • Generic Degree• Inter-professionalism• Partnership Working & Collaborative
Practice• Service User & Carer Participation• Theory & Practice Integration• Evidence Based Approach & Research
Mindedness• Practice-focussed Curriculum
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Preparation for Practice Providers must:
‘ensure that all students undergo assessed preparation for direct practice to ensure their safety to undertake practice learning in a service delivery setting. This preparation must include the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the experience of service users and the opportunity to shadow an experienced social worker’ (authors’ emphasis) (DoH, 2002:3).
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4 key aspects led to further questions:
• What are the key elements of preparation?• How could students best learn about the experience of
service users? • What personal & professional learning would result from
work shadowing?• What knowledge underpins safety to practise and in
practice?• What would the evaluation tell us about students’ levels
of knowledge & understanding in initial stage of training?• How would we recreate / revise the PFP curriculum? • How are the first steps as part of an incremental &
coherent approach to students’ learning?
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Literature• Preparation for practice learning remains largely
undefined• Research into effective field education is still in
its infancy (Parker, 2007)
• Views of first line managers & perceptions of newly qualified practitioners –readiness for realities of practice ( Marsh & Triseliotis, 1996)
• Some exploration of concepts of ‘ competence’ & ‘capability’
• Need differentiation between ‘competence for practice’ (prior to practice) & ‘competence in practice’ (post-qualification (Preston-Shoot, 2004)
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The Module
• A series of taught workshops on the nature of professional social work: social work roles, duties & responsibilities, ethical dimensions, service user perspectives, reflective practice & the use of theory in practice.
• Completion of a Virtual Placement CD-Rom & Quiz.
• Work Shadowing a qualified social worker (minimum of 3 days.
• Completion of Work Shadowing Observation Journals including demonstration of understanding of core social work roles and responsibilities & the GSCC Codes of Practice
• A Written Assignment.
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The Evaluation
• To evaluate if and how students felt the module prepared them for their first practice learning experience.
• To highlight significant aspects of personal and professional learning identified by students.
• To begin to identify the key features of an effective Preparation for Practice Learning framework
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Methodology: questionnaires and focus group
Student profile: 41 students
24 different languages were spoken
28 minority ethnic backgrounds
Average age was 32 years (range 20 – 50)
4 men in the group.
Average length of pre-course social care experience was 2 years
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The Nature of Social Work • The first thing I learned ….. it is not always about helping
people as not all people who come into contact with social workers do so voluntarily… social workers help is not always wanted.”
• “Social worker intervenes to help people take control of their lives, providing them with assistance …… it is not about taking charge and disempowering the service users.”
• "I was surprised at just how much paperwork is involved as well as the write- ups”
• “It is very authoritative. People are said to be given choices but how do they choose when resources are limited?”
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Skills, Knowledge & Goal Setting
• “Social work practice can be pressured and require strong organisation of time and good analytical skills in clarifying and taking in large amounts of information.“
• “Needs a lot of commitment, one has to be aware of (one’s) values and it can be contradictory in relationship to the (social work) values.”
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Key Themes • Addressing the nature of social work• Professionalism• Reflective Practice• AOP / ADP- power, empowerment &
principled practice • Professional requirements & work based /
practical realities• Observational learning• Communication and interpersonal skills /
approach & style in practice / emotional literacy
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Unpacking the findings • Importance of critical reflection in articulating the
theoretical • Fook :‘fragmented and diverse contexts’
(2003:1) & dangers of ‘constructing theory & practice as
separate entities’ (2002:26)
• Usher’s (1989) typology of knowledge:- Theoretical - to discover the nature of the world & what ‘necessarily exists’- Technical - (‘know-how’) - instrumental or ‘means end’ reasoning - Practical knowledge - purpose to act appropriately & ethically in the world
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Unpacking the findings
• Cree ( 2003) – becoming, identifying & conducting self as a professional practitioner
• Eadie & Lymbery (2002) - personal development as part of process of professionalisation
• Emotional intelligence (Mayer & Salovey 1993;
Morrison, 2007)
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Planning the Curriculum • Balance between teacher- centred (‘classical’) & student-
centred (‘romantic’) curricula ((Lawton,1973)
• Andragogy & pedagogy debate – the need to use students’ experience i.e.. Jarvis’ (1993) major variable is experience not chronological age
• Bines’ (1992) 3 fold typology of professional education training models:
- Apprenticeship - Technocratic - Post technocratic model of initial professional
education - builds on the experience of practice & reflection on same
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Teaching & Learning Strategies Learning through Observation• Observational learning well documented
(Bandura,1977 ) • Child observation (Trowell & Miles,1991; Briggs,1999,
Tanner & Le Riche,1998)• Le Riche (2006) - the pedagogical value of a work
shadowing experience allowing access to the subtleties of communication, culture & anti-oppressive practice
• Brearley (2007:94) - the need to refine one’s observation skills in understanding ‘the complex medium which constitutes the workplace’
• Hinshelwood & Skogstad (2000) - promoting understanding of organisational transactions & processes in health settings
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Teaching & Learning Strategies• Importance of stories, metaphors & practice based case
examples as a necessary part of the learning process to communicate knowledge & understanding – finding the space for reflection. (Osmond & O’Connor 2004)
• Teaching of theory - the theory circle ‘theory to
understand’ & ‘theory to intervene’ (Collingwood et al 2008)
• Student-centred group methods - discussion / debate /
fishbowl to facilitate group learning (Jarvis, 1993) & foster trust & cohesion for a newly forming and diverse group
• Controlling & pacing learning – Computer assisted learning (Singh Cooner & Doel, 2003) individual student-centred method
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‘PREPARES’ Framework
P - Personal Skill & DevelopmentR - Reflective Practice E - Exploration of Theory and Knowledge P - ProfessionalismA - Anti-Oppressive / Anti-discriminatory
Practice: Social Work ValuesR - Reality of Social Work Environments E - Emotional Intelligence S - Service User & Carer Perspectives © (O’Connor, Cecil & Boudioni 2007)
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Final thoughts • Importance of evaluating students’ learning as part of
the first steps on their professional journey - ‘evidence-informed practice.’
• Model offers a foundation & framework on which to build.
• Changes implemented: Strengthen level 1 input on interpersonal skills and
communication to address emotional literacy, skill development, personal agency & effectiveness
Addressing reflective practice within the curriculum using explorative writing and group work (Bolton, 2001)
Identifying & strengthening trans-module learning
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Final thoughts
Effective learning:‘allows structures of meaning to berecognised, and to be open to change, in a way which facilitates a different (and perhaps more constructive) professional response’ (Yelloly & Henkel, 1995:9)
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BibliographyBandura, A.(1977) Social Learning Theory. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Bines, H. (1992) ‘Issues in course design’, in Bines, H. & Watson, D. (eds) Developing Professional
Education Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press Briggs, S. (1999) ‘Links between infant observation and reflective social work practice’. Journal of
Social Work Practice, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 147-156.Brearley, J. (2007) ‘A psychodynamic approach to social work in Lishman, J. (2nd ed) ( 2007)
Handbook for Practice Learning in Social Work and Social Care London :Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Bolton, G.( 2001) Reflective Practice: Writing and professional development. London: Sage.Collingwood, P.,Emond,R.,& Woodward, R. 2008 The Theory Circle: A Tool for Learning and for
Practice Social Work Education vol 27, no1,pp. 70-83 Cree, V. (2003) Becoming a Social Worker. Routledge, London. Department of Health (2002) The Requirements for Social Work Training. Department of Health,
London. Eadie, T. and Lymbery, M. (2002) ‘Understanding and working in welfare organisations: helping
students survive the workplace’ Social Work Education, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 515-527.Fook, J. (2002) Social Work: Critical Theory & Practice. Sage:London . Fook, J. (2003) Negotiating for Social Justice. Plenary delivered at the 28th Australian
Association of Social Workers National Conference, 30th September 2003. Canberra, Australia.General Social Care Council (2002) Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers and Employers.
General Social Care Council: London Hinshelwood, R.D. & Skogstad, W. (2000) Observing Organisations:Anxiety, Defence and Culture
in Health Care .London:RoutledgeLawton , D. (1973) Social Change, Educational Theory and Curriculum Planning London: Hodder and
Stoughton
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BibliographyJarvis,P.(2nd ed.)(1993) Adult & Continuing Education . .London:Routledge Le Riche, P. (2006) ’Practising observation in shadowing: curriculum innovation and learning on the BA Social
Work’. Social Work Education, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 771-784.Knowles,M. (1989)- The Making of an Adult Educator .San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Marsh, P. and Triseliotis, J. (1996) Ready to Practice? Social Workers and Probation Officers: Their Training
and First Year in Work, Avebury, Aldershot. Mayer,J.D. and Salovey, P. (1993)‘The intelligence of emotional intelligence’, Intelligence, vol. 17, no. 4, pp.
433-442. Morrison, T. (2007) ’Emotional intelligence, emotion and social work: context, characteristics, complications
and contribution’. British Journal of Social Work, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 245-263.O’Connor, L, Cecil, R & Boudioni, M. (2007) ‘Preparing for practice: an evaluation of an undergraduate social
work ‘preparation for practice module’. Social Work Education. (in press).Osmond, J. & O’Connor, I.(2004) ‘Formalizing the unformalized: Practitioners’ communication of knowledge in
practice.’ British Journal of Social Work 34,677-692)Parker, J. (2007) ‘Developing effective practice learning for tomorrow’s social workers’. Social Work Education,
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http://www.hcc.uce.ac.uk/virtualplacement Tanner, K. and Le Riche, P (1998) Observation And Its Application To Social Work: Rather Like Breathing.
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